The Beach for Thanksgiving

A decision to go to Ocean City, Maryland for Thanksgiving was a wonderful one. We haven't done that for 17 years. Thanksgiving dinner had always been at my parent’s house, the house where I grew up, until my Mom and Dad decided to move to Ocean Pines, just outside of OC, MD. After we lost my Dad, my Mother moved back to Baltimore and dinner for this holiday was then held here at our house. Several months ago, when my aunt and her family said they were going to the beach for Thanksgiving (they too had always gone to my parents) and wanted us to go, we jumped at the chance. There were 24 of us for dinner on Thursday. On Friday we went to the annual tree lighting in Rehoboth, DE, which was something we had always done when my parents lived at the beach. A visit to the Vendors Fair took place on Saturday (and no we weren't set up as vendors for that...thank goodness). All the cousins had a great time together and Dylan just loved chasing seagulls.

Having all of us together was truly something to be thankful for.

Just wanted to say...

May your stuffing be tasty, May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving Dinner stay off your thighs!

And may each and everyone of us take a moment to count our blessings.
Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas Show Done - On to Monday

The Maryland Christmas Show in Frederick is now over for us. We signed up to participate in just the first of the two weekends. The second show, held the weekend after Thanksgiving, is always the better of the two, as folks are really beginning to get in a Christmas frame of mind after turkey. But we didn't want to miss Thanksgiving weekend
with the family so we opted to do just the one.
Looking forward to spending the whole weekend with my girls and their husbands, my Mom and her sisters and their families and my Darlin' Dylan.

While we were at the show today, Meagan and Erik took Lucy on a walk and she had a great time going for hike with her human sister and brother-in-law. She got wet and dirty and for her final trick, she got to roll in fresh horse manure while they weren't looking. I'm sure this will be a day to remember for my fuzzy little girl. She also got a bath when she returned home.

Meg put this photo up on FB...what a sweet face for such a stinky girl!

On With The Show

Been busy, busy, busy getting ready for The Maryland Christmas Show.

With several monkey wrenches thrown in...the computer crashing (thanks to my wonderful son-in-law, we were able to keep going on with our old laptop while he built us a new computer for the shop) and the transmission on the truck going up
we still got lots finished to display.

I worked on some new Christmas signs for the show. Just love Miracle on 34th street and I can hear Susan (Natalie Wood) saying this. I'm thinking this may just have to sit by
the large fabric Santa I've had for years.

During the holidays, I always remember Christmases past. The holidays at my parents big old house hold a special place in my heart. Then the wonderful Christmas mornings when the girls were small and there was magic in their eyes.

This large sign of Christmas words and sayings is burgundy with a black undercoat. A little different from what we usually do.

www.countryworkshop.net

After my post yesterday we found how devastating the storm the other night really was. Many families have lost their homes. Several apartment buildings had the roofs taken off while people were in bed sleeping. Cars were picked up and ended up in piles. Many houses had trees fall on them. Our neighborhood had dozens of big old trees either snap off or get pulled up by the roots. Our neighbors next door have a 60 foot oak tree, pulled up by the roots, that is only being held up by the branches of other trees. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost their homes.

One final note...Today is Mickey Mouse's Birthday!
Happy Birthday Mickey!

Good Golly...

Found out that the Husband and I aren't too smart. When we were awakened by the "freight train" noise last night...we went to the window to take a look. It was extremely loud...lasted for maybe 40 seconds with heavy rain. We have some trees with the tops ripped off and a small pine tree was knocked over. The table on our porch is broken, not the glass top but metal legs, which is surprising, and chairs were all tipped over. There was a large branch on my car but there isn't any damage. On the news they are saying possible tornado. 3 miles away roofs ripped off and houses collapsed. We were lucky. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes.

We've had 45+ inches of snow this year...the hottest summer on record...an earthquake...and now a possible tornado. Maryland is called America in Miniature because we have the ocean to the mountains. Now we can be called that because of natural disasters
.

Early Advent Dinner and a Dylan Day

Two years ago, my friend Shar asked if I would like to go to a dinner with her, her sister and several of their friends. It was a group of women, 20 or so, gathering at the home of one of Shar's old friends. This was something I thought I didn't have the time for but because it seemed important to Shar I went. I was very glad I did. Several weeks ago when she asked if I wanted to go again I was happy for the invitation. Last night we gathered at the 100+ year old house (in the photo above) . The hostess of the pre-advent dinner, is a one time missionary, has this gathering to bring women together for a wonderful meal and conversations. She empties her living room of furniture and has several dining tables set with pretty linens, china, crystal and silver. The meal is served by teenage girls from her church. We first had cream of broccoli soup. The main dish was ham with pineapple and cherry sauce, scalloped sweet potatoes and a combination of apples, grapes and walnuts. A wonderful muffin that had little chunks of chocolate was served with the dinner. We had our choice of Earl Grey or an apple herbal tea. Wonderful little cookies were served for dessert.

Our table had 6 women, and I'm the new "friend" as Shar and her sister have know the other 3 women for many more years than they have known me. When we were seated at the table, there was a list of suggested topics we might want to talk about. Like...what is the one thing this year that made you truly thankful, what are some of your family's holiday traditions and we all spoke of Christmases when we were children and how the Christmas tree just appeared in the morning, like magic. I really don't know how my parents were able to put up the tree and assemble toys for 3 young children after we finally went to sleep on Christmas Eve.
There were two other tables with with women,
some older than the group at our table and some younger.


It was nice to take one evening to relax and talk with "girls", who like me, have grown children and grandchildren and ponder how things have changed over the years. It was rather like a bridal or baby shower without the bride or mother to be. It also is a reminder to us to take time to remember the true reason for the holiday.

Today I am at Holly's house taking care of my darlin' boy who just didn't want to take a nap although he certainly needed it. Can you tell by the look on his face that he needed to close those peepers and take a snooze? I put him in the stroller and we "strolled" up and down and all around the country roads in her neighborhood and that at least made him happier and he talked to me the whole time we were rollin'...I didn't understand a word he said and I sure hope I didn't agree to anything I shouldn't have. He did however go right in for a nap when we got back to the house. Now Mom Mom thinks she needs a nap too.

Count Down...49 Days 'Til Christmas

Every day when I check my ebay store, in the top left corner is the count down...letting me know just how quickly the holidays will be here. This of course is a busy time for everyone, but to all the crafters, creators, artists and vendors who sell their wares online and at holiday shows it is an outrageously busy time. Years ago, when my girls were in elementary school, I had customers picking up special orders 2 days before Christmas and I swore I would never do that again. I had a cut off date after that and stuck to it. At that time I was only displaying my items at little local craft shows. Now, I have shops on several internet selling venues, including
The Country Workshop Website , and am also participating in several holiday shows.
Last year I had a cut off date for orders on the internet shops for delivery in time for Christmas, but ended up having to put the shops "on vacation" because I had guests to my online stores begging to please just make one more item for them and I really do have a hard time saying no.
This really is a good thing...I have wonderful customers who really like what I am creating and want to purchase my items for gifts. However, this year I want time to put up a Christmas tree. ( I still can't believe we never got a tree up last year) so I'm going to have to choose a date for orders to be placed in time for Christmas and stick to it. The next few weeks are going to keep me scrambling!

So now the stress begins...

Perry Hall Christmas Craft Show 2010

Just a reminder that the Christmas Show in Perry Hall will be opening tomorrow.

I set up my area on Tuesday and was able to get some photos of displays already set up, but there was still alot left to do. But now, the show is set up and ready. It always amazes me that in 4 days that the Perry Hall Community Hall can be transformed from a large, empty room into a retail shop filled with gifts, hand crafted goodies, a vintage section with furniture and housewares, homemade candies and a section with gently used children's clothing and toys.

Christmas in Perry Hall 2010
starts on November 5th and runs through November 28th.
A Collection of Crafts and Vintage

Directions to the Perry Hall Community Hall
From I-95, Take Rt43 west to 1st light, HoneyGo Blvd, make right
Continue to Joppa Rd, make right
Go through traffic circle and make immediate left onto
Gerst Rd Community Hall is on the right.
For info call 410-382-5142

Cousins

Dylan with his cousin Cali at Lou's sister's house yesterday. We had a potluck dinner sorta thing and then cake and ice cream for the October birthdays. Cali was a 50's teenybooper, complete with a poodle skirt.
Dylan was a lion. The costumes were just so darn cute and so were the children in them.